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NATURALIZATION OF JEWS IN NEW YORK UNDER 
THE ACT OF 1740. 



Bt LEON HUHNER, A. M., LL. B., 
New York City. 



Reprintid from 

Publications of the 

American Jewish Historical Society, 

No. 13, 1905. 



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NATURALIZATION OF JEWS IN" NEW YORK UNDER 
THE ACT OF 1740. 

By Leon Huhneb, A. M., L.L.B., 'New York City. 

At the first meeting of this Society, the Hon. Simon W. 
Rosendale presented a copy of the Act of 1740, allowing 
naturalization of Jews in the American colonies.^ He called 
particular attention to Section 5 thereof, which required 
"the Secretary of every colony to send to the offices of the 
Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, to be kept in the 
City of London or Westminster, a true and perfect list of the 
names of all and every person and persons who have entitled 
themselves to the benefit of the Act, which lists so transmitted 
were required to be regularly entered by the Commissioners in 
a book to be kept for that purpose." 

On that occasion Judge Rosendale recommended that these 
European lists be looked up with a view of identifying some 
of the early Jewish settlers in America. 

Following this suggestion, a very valuable paper was sub- 
mitted at the meeting of 1896 by Dr. J. H. Hollander, in 
which a complete history of the Act was given, as well as an 
account of the inefEective movement for its repeal in 1753. 
It appeared that Mr. Lucien Wolf, of London, had previously 
examined the archives of the Public Record Office and made 
a list of the names to be found in the offices of the Commis- 
sioners referred to. This list was verified by Dr. Hollander 

1 Simon W. Rosendale, " An Act Allowing Naturalization of Jews 
in the Colonies," American Jeivish Historical Society Publica- 
tions, No. 1. p. 93. 



2 American Jetuish Historical Society. 

by independent research and appeared in No. 5 of the So- 
ciety's Publications." 

The present paper is devoted to another line of research 
heretofore untouched, namely, the original oflQcial lists made 
in America, from which the English lists were prepared. 

Investigation shows that the lists examined by Dr. Hol- 
lander are neither conclusive nor absolutely correct. Errors 
naturally crept in, due partly to the clerks in America who 
transcribed the names, and partly no doubt to the clerks in 
England when making their entries. Furthermore, after 
some years the London officials seem to have grown careless 
in making entries ; thus, while in New York, for instance, the 
colonial officials continued to send home lists of naturaliza- 
tions pursuant to statute as late as 1770, the last entry relat- 
ing to New York found by Dr. Hollander in England is dated 
October, 1748. 

Through the courtesy of Mr. Eames, and Mr. Palsits, of the 
Lenox Library, the present writer had the privilege last sum- 
mer of examining a mass of original manuscripts relating to 
New York, belonging to that institution. He there found a 
large folio manuscript book belonging to the Emmett collection 
which turned out to be the original book of entry for natural- 
izations in New York under the Act mentioned. 

This volume adds to our knowledge of the Act and also of 
the persons who took advantage thereof. In point of numbers 
it adds at least ten names to the list of New York Jews not 
included in the English transcript. From it we learn also 
the exact date of naturalization each inst j and the 
spelling of some of the names is corrected. The English list 
in some cases had substituted an entirely different name from 
that in the original entry. Thus, for instance, in Dr. Hol- 
lander's list a name is given as Solomon Bares; the original 

= J. H. Hollander, " The Naturalization of Jews in the American 
Colonies under the Act of 1740," American Jewish Historical 
Society Publications, No. 5, p. 105. 



Naturalization of Jews in New YorJc — Hiihner. 3 

entry in New York shows the name of the person to have 
been Solomon Nare. 

The manuscript at the Lenox Library is entitled as follows : 
" The Severall Persons hereafter named took the Oaths made 
repeated the Declaration as Directed by an Act of Parliament 
made in the thirteenth year of the Eeign of King George the 
Second — Entituled 'An Act for Naturalizing such foreign 
Protestants and others therein mentioned as are settled or 
shall settle in any of His Majesty's Colonies in America.' " 

The book is marked off in parallel columns toward the 
binding so that the names run along over both pages, one 
under the other. The headings of these columns are as fol- 
lows: 

Names of the Persons naturalized. 

Their religious Profession. 

Their Temporall Profession and Place of Abode. 

Minister Certifying receiving the Sacrament. 

The witnesses names to the Certificate. 

The day of the month. 

No witnesses appear in connection with any of the Jewish 
names, while in the case of all other applicants the names of 
witnesses are given. This fact is fully explained by the 
provisions of the Statute. Article II provides that with the 
exception of Quakers and Jews " No one shall be naturalized 
by virtue of this Act, unless such person shall have received 
the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in some Protestant and 
Eeformed Congregation within this Kingdom of Great Britain 
or withiE some of the said Colonies in America within three 
months rie:.' 'before tak ^nd subscribing the said oaths and 
making, repeating and subscribing the said Declaration, and 
shall at the time of his taking and subscribing the said oaths 
and making, repeating and subscribing the said Declara- 
tion, produce a certificate signed by the person Administering 
the Said Sacrament and attested by two credible Witnesses, 
whereof an entry shall be made in the Secretar/s Office of 
the Colonv," etc. 



4 American Jewish Historical Society. 

As the Statute provided that naturalization might take 
place in open court before the Chief Judge or other Judge of 
the Colony wherein the person resides, and that an entry be 
made in a book to be kept in court for the purpose, it is likely 
that there were several books in the different courts. These 
were ultimately transcribed by the Secretary of the Colony 
in a special book kept by him. The book at the Lenox Library 
is evidently the Secretary's book, whose duty it was to transmit 
the names to England, for it shows such transmission from 
time to time. 

Although the statute required the names to be transmitted 
yearly, this provision does not seem to have been observed 
after 1741. Following an entry April 27, 1741, appears the 
following note : 

" So far Sent Home in May 1741, according to the Statute." 

No similar entry appears for years afterw^d, the last being 
July, 1770, followed by the remark, " Hitherto lists sent to 
the Board Trade." The last Jewish naturalization bears date 
January, 1766. 

The book contains 34 Jewish names in all, each particidarly 
described as " Jew." All are described as of the " City of 
New York, merchant," with the following exceptions : 

Isaac Hays, Tallow chandler. 

Isaac Adolphus, Trader. 

Hyam Myers, Butcher. 

Manuel Myers, Trader. 

Isaac Elizer, Ehode Island, Merchant. 

Levy Hart, of the Colony of New York, Merchant. 

Jonas Solomons, " " " 

Joseph Jesurum Pinto, Minister of Jewish Congregaton. 

The last-named was naturalized January 22, 1766, and his 
is the last Jewish name on the list. 

While discussing this list with my friend Mr. Kohler, he 
suggested that the Ehode Island name may have been that of 
a Jew who was refused naturalization in his own colony. In- 
vestigation led to the following interesting result: 



Naturalization of Jews in New York — HiiJiner. 5 

In 1763, Aaron Lopez and Isaac Elizar, both of Newport, 
applied for naturalization, which was refused. 

The decision of the court was based in part upon the fact 
that the applicants were Jews. In order to give it some color 
of logic, however, the following far-fetched construction was 
put upon the Act of 1740: The Naturalization Act, it was 
argued, " was designed for increasing the number of inhabit- 
ants, but as the colony was already full, it could not be the 
intention of the Act that any more should be naturalized." 
On this episode, Arnold the historian suggests what is prob- 
ably the truth, that the decision was not due to religious 
prejudice, but was simply a political expedient to prevent any 
increase in the voting population during the struggle then 
going on between Chief Justice Ward and Governor 
Hopkins.' In a paper on the " Jews of New England 
Prior to 1800," presented at the last meeting, the present 
writer called attention to the fact that Lopez promptly went 
to Massachusetts and obtained naturalization at Boston.* The 
original New York record now shows that Elizar at about 
the same time came to New York and there obtained the 
benefits of the Act. 

It is not unreasonable to suppose that similar manuscripts 
have been preserved in the rest of the thirteen colonies. If 
the present paper serves to stimulate research in that direc- 
tion and thereby to bring to light names of early Jewish set- 
tlers, its object will have been amply fulfilled. 

^ Charles P. Daly, " The Settlement of the Jews in North 
America," New York, 1893, pp. 82-84. See also Arnold's " History 
of Rhode Island," p. 496. 

*"The Jews of New England (other than Rhode Island) prior 
to 1800," American Jewish Historical Society Publications, No. 
11, p. 81. See also Collections of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, 1858-1860, Vol. IV, p. 342. 



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